


The Prince Of Music

by A_Can_Of_Axe



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cheese, Classical Music, F/M, Inspired by Music, Music, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-07-28 06:09:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7628080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Can_Of_Axe/pseuds/A_Can_Of_Axe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi! I'm your friendly neighborhood adolescent deodorant, A Can Of Axe.  This story was originally on FFnet under the same title, but I've decided to slowly start uploading to Ao3 to not waste my account.  The original precursor to this chapter read as such:</p>
<p>"Well this is a new one. This fic started out as a "What if there was a competitive girl's team in Seigaku?" Original. I know (not really). After the, oh, I don't know, fleshing out of and creation of bio of the... 8th(?) OC, I started to hate what I was creating. Stressed, I opened Spotify and played my classical playlist. And then a new idea hit me. What if there was world where Ryoma wasn't a tennis star, but a violin prodigy. Mix it in with a little RyoSaku where Sakuno was a prodigy piano player and BAM, a story with a musical AU.<br/>This chapter alone was about two weeks in the making."</p>
<p>So, that's that. A word before you start reading! It is part of my fanfic religion to place a big, bold disclaimer before every chapter. Enjoy folks!</p>
<p>Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis[テニスの王子様(Tenisu no Ōjisama)] is owned by Takeshi Konomi, Shueisha, Viz Media, Weekly Shōnen Jump, and TV Tokyo, for all characters, T.V. Shows, OVA's, movies, and anything dealing with the series. Only the written belongs to me.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. 1st Movement: The Exposition

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm your friendly neighborhood adolescent deodorant, A Can Of Axe. This story was originally on FFnet under the same title, but I've decided to slowly start uploading to Ao3 to not waste my account. The original precursor to this chapter read as such:
> 
> "Well this is a new one. This fic started out as a "What if there was a competitive girl's team in Seigaku?" Original. I know (not really). After the, oh, I don't know, fleshing out of and creation of bio of the... 8th(?) OC, I started to hate what I was creating. Stressed, I opened Spotify and played my classical playlist. And then a new idea hit me. What if there was world where Ryoma wasn't a tennis star, but a violin prodigy. Mix it in with a little RyoSaku where Sakuno was a prodigy piano player and BAM, a story with a musical AU.  
> This chapter alone was about two weeks in the making."
> 
> So, that's that. A word before you start reading! It is part of my fanfic religion to place a big, bold disclaimer before every chapter. Enjoy folks!
> 
> Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis[テニスの王子様(Tenisu no Ōjisama)] is owned by Takeshi Konomi, Shueisha, Viz Media, Weekly Shōnen Jump, and TV Tokyo, for all characters, T.V. Shows, OVA's, movies, and anything dealing with the series. Only the written belongs to me.

**1st Movement: The Exposition**

Ryoma Echizen.

Where to even begin with him? Well, let's start here: he's a musical genius.

No… not _a_ genius; he is _the_ musical genius. Ryoma took the world by storm with his skill with the violin.

Ryoma is the pride and joy of the classical music world in this generation. Every piece he plays outclasses those who came before him in sound, interpretation, and presentation.

He is _almost_ the epitome of what a musician should be… almost. What he has in musical talent, he lacks in emotion. Oh, no, don't get it wrong. He's praised at every corner of this planet, but his criticisms(the few that he had) are like replays of a cassette tape, they always say the same thing: "… Needs more passion, more emotion, etc."

He's also the novice at utilizing good social skills. While his looks were sky-high above par, his silent, arrogant demeanor did not at all attract people enough to become friends. Well, it depends… Could fangirls(or fanboys) count? Because if that was the case, he certainly had a lot of those. He was also somewhat oblivious towards feelings(or anything that didn't have to do with music).

And then there's Sakuno Ryuzaki.

She too is the best of the best. With piano talent out of this universe, she knocked the world off its feet when she won the Seoul International Music competition's piano class at the ripe age of nine years old. Only a year later did she fully blossom to her true potential and began to climb the ladder to the top.

She began her musical journey in the piano after her parents' death. After her parents passed away, she was left to her grandmother, Sumire Ryuzaki, a former pianist. Her grandmother didn't force her to the instrument; rather, Sakuno wanted to learn.

She's a very cute, petite girl who is terribly shy and… a bit of a crybaby. Due to her shyness, she seems to have a permanent stutter when talking to other people. She tries her best to never remember the time that she started bawling due to the nervousness. But because of her natural goody-two-shoes attitude, tame temper, and humble and modest outlook on her life, she is automatically loved by all, far and wide, but she's too bashful to close to make friends. She was also a girl who has little to no critics, but those who don't like her due to her playing being "too full of expression and emotion, it's almost childlike". Well, it didn't matter, because she was the best even when she was a child.

Their backgrounds are nothing to be toyed with either.

Ryoma's father, Nanjirou, although a bit queer and a pervert, is a world renowned music theory professor at the Kunitachi College of Music. His mother, Rinko, is principal violist of the Tokyo Philharmonic orchestra. His brother, Ryoga, was a bit of rebel, but famous nonetheless. He is a pop idol who is said to have brought life back into the dying Japanese idol industry which was already being drowned out by K-Pop and other western pop music. Ryoga was supposedly single-handedly responsible for bringing up the sinking ship known as J-pop, parting the sea for new idols to come in swarms.

Before their deceasement, Sakuno's father was the conductor and director of the National Japan Philharmonic orchestra and her mother was the principal oboist in the same orchestra. Sumire was a famous organ player having played at the Vatican and many other major Catholic churches and events, with her roots implanted firmly in the piano.

The biggest part, however, isn't that they are at the top of their game.

It's that they are at the top of game at the young age of sixteen.

**~0~0~0~0~0~0~**

"Oi, Ryoma." A foot kicked the virtuoso, who was still wrapped cozily in his blanket.

"Nnnnnngg…" he babbled incoherently.

"Brat, it's time to get up." Nanjirou kicked him again.

"Five more minutes." Ryoma was never a morning person. Nothing woke him up. It had to be a person.

"Five more minutes and you'll be late. Don't you have that freshmen orientation thing that's mandatory or some shit like that?" Nanjirou kept kicking him.

"Yeah, but that's at eight o'clock... Stupid old man..."

Nanjirou pried Ryoma's eyes open and set a clock in front of his son's face.

7:57 A.M.

Ryoma peered in a groggy daze for a moment. The minute passed.

7:58 A.M.

He stared for at the clock for a couple more seconds

Suddenly, his eyes immediately snapped open from the daze he was in. Quickly, he got dressed in what seemed to be one light-speed motion and ran out of the house.

Rinko opened the door again and yelled after him, "Dear, you forgot your instrument!"

That's right... This wasn't any old high school. He was going to Seishun Preparatory Conservatory High School; Seigaku for short. It was an audition-only, prestigious fine arts school where all students were intent in getting a career dedicated to music. When Ryoma returned from the U.S.A, he took the admission audition and of course, he was a shoe-in candidate.

Jogging backwards, he grabbed the instrument, slung it on his back, and thanked his mother. After beginning to run again, he jogged back and took a piece of buttered toast from a plate his mother was holding and made a full on sprint to his school.

Rinko could do nothing but sigh and went back inside the house. She walked over to pick up the clock that was put in front of Ryoma when she noticed something.

"Honey?"

"Yes, Rinko?" Nanjirou was putting his shirt on to get to the college where he worked at.

She eyed the clock carefully and said, "Wasn't this the clock we took to our vacation to the Brisbane in Australia?"

"Yes, it was, dear." He was now fixing his tie.

"Wasn't the timezone an hour ahead from Tokyo?"

"Yes?" Nanjirou didn't understand what she was trying to prove.

"When we came back, did we ever bother to turn it back to Tokyo's time?"

Oh.

**~0~0~0~0~0~0~**

Ryoma reached the school garden which was… empty? He was sure that the orientation and welcoming ceremony was at 8 o'clock. If anything, he wasn't too terribly late; he would've just got in line during the middle of the principal's welcoming speech. It had only been like.. seven(?) minutes from when he left home… unless..

Ryoma took his phone out of his pocket and turned it on to see the time 7:06 A.M. Frustration filled his head as he realized that his father showed him a clock with a wrong time. No wonder people weren't here, he was almost an hour early!

With a vein popping in his head, he murmured a curse under his breath, "Damn that stupid old man…"

The weather was nice and the wind was cool. It was the ideal spring day with the birds chirping, the flowers blooming, and most of all, the Sakura Trees were in full bloom. That was one thing Ryoma like about school: Japan started in the springtime and not the fall like when he used to live in the States.

Not hesitating, he went to the nearest tree and laid down on it, trying to hit that point of deep sleep like this morning, before that retard of a father woke him up. He didn't even know he was underneath a fully-bloomed sakura tree.

He twisted, he turned, hell, he even switched sides, but for some unknown reason, he couldn't fall asleep. Maybe that adrenaline from this morning when he rushed out was still in his system.

"... I can't sleep…" This was a first for Ryoma. He always had a knack for napping, even in the most important times, like five minutes before the Prague Spring International Music Competition… which he still won.

Well, that was enough of that. He couldn't sleep and he had nothing else to do. Ryoma set his violin down and cracked open the case. It was a beautiful, aged brown color equipped with an equally stunning pernambuco bow with the purest, whitest bow hair. After adequately rosining his bow, he took a cloth and did a quick wipe of the strings, making sure that nothing was getting in the way of his playing.

He set the instrument up to his shoulder and rested the bow on the strings. A familiar tune could be heard in his head.

" _Maybe I can play some Mendelssohn or something...,"_ he thought to himself.

He pulled the bow. A familiar tune it was indeed, as it was the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in the key of E minor. It had a powerful, solo-lead opening, but still maintained a silk-like style and was like a flowing river.

**~0~0~0~0~0~0~**

Sakuno had decided trek her way to school earlier so that she could get a feel for the area and not get lost. She hadn't the best sense of direction. Many times has she pointed people to the wrong way during urgent times and had been yelled at for it. Sometimes, she even got lost in her own home.

After she had reached the gates she heard the faint, sweet tone of a violin. It sounded like…

' _Mendelssohn'_ she thought to herself.

Anyone with any common knowledge in the world of classical music would know that piece. It was notorious for being played at any dramatic, sad, or shocking event in every form of media known to man.

But this was the first time Sakuno ever heard it played this way. She couldn't put it into words, but it sounded passive but expressional at the same time. It was as if the piece and player were contradicting one another, but agreed with eachother. Continuing to follow the sound, she ended at a cherry blossom tree. The silky sound was coming from right behind it. Curiously, she peeked out, coming out from behind the tree. A boy came into her vision as she quietly looked around the tree. He was standing tall, his black-green hair fell effortlessly down his face. For the moment that he did open his eyes, the first thing she noticed was his amber eyes and piercing, cat-like gaze. And then there was his playing, oh, his playing! It was some of the finest she's ever heard. The sounds coming from the small instrument were nothing but perfection: so crystal clear that you could almost see your face off of the sound. Ryoma's playing was akin to listening to a recording of the finest quality, through the best headphones.

While in this tranced state, she didn't notice herself inching closer and closer to the stranger. It was already a far too familiar tune, a piece she thought couldn't get any more perfect after all the performances and recordings it had. That is, until she met this boy.

She snapped out of the daze when she heard a loud _snap_ of a branch she stepped on. Unfortunately, _he_ heard it too. There was an abrupt stop in the piece.

"Who's there?" the boy exclaimed.

"Uh…"

Sakuno was now face to face with this stranger.

"Uh, G-Good morning!"

The first thing Sakuno noticed was the arrogance in his eyes. It looked like as if he already realized he was the best and was relishing it. The second thing she noticed were a set of scowling eyebrows, like they could see right through her.

The first thing Ryoma noticed were the big, brown eyes that bashfully stared blankly towards him and extremely long auburn hair done in two twin braids that came all the way to her waist. The second thing he noticed were the wobbly hips she had due to her nervousness. The only thing he noticed were her well toned fingers which he suspected was due to a piano.

He kicked his case open and put his violin back into it. Loosening his bow, he nonchalantly states, "I thought was the only one here."

"Well, I- I thought that since it was my first day here, I t-thought I would get a general feel of direction in this place!"

"So you're a ditz."

Sakuno blushed from embarrassment.

"I-I am not a ditz!"

"Well, in any case you must have a really bad sense of direction."

Well, he certainly hit the nail on the head.

"Oooh… You-! You-!"

"'You' what?"

"I didn't know a person you just met could be such a jerk!" This was weird; Sakuno was a very patient and timid girl. Rare were outbursts from her, especially towards a person she's only met now.

She immediately put her hand over her mouth in shock.

"I-I'm sorry!" She bowed down apologetically.

"Hmph." Ryoma apathetically grunted and slung his violin over his shoulder.

As he started to walk away he said, "Knees too relaxed, shoulder, hips, and elbows too wobbly, posture is unconfident…."

"Eh?! Oooh..." Embarrassed, Sakuno whimpered.

Sakuno let out a small sigh and looked at the ground at her feet. Damn it, the first interaction at this school goes sour. How much worse could it get for her?

"Sakuno~~"

She turned around as she heard a familiar voice.

"Tomo!"

Well, now that her friend was here, it couldn't get too much worse. Tomoka was Sakuno's only true friend and to top it off, she was a solid cello player. Tomoka was the same height as as Sakuno, but had short, light-brown hair that was kept in high pigtails. However, she was much, much, _much_ more outgoing than her. If Sakuno was white, then Tomoka was black. But hey, you know what they say: opposites attract.

They met at a competition where Sakuno ran off because of her stage fright. Tomoka, who just happened to be walking in the opposite direction, saw a figure that was hidden behind a wall. When she approached that figure, she saw that the person was a small girl, who seemed to be around her age.

**~0~0~0~0~0~0~**

" _Hi!" A young Tomoka approached the small girl._

_She was curled up into a ball and was sitting down, supporting her weight against the wall. She looked up. Her large, shimmering brown eyes were red and blotchy because of the tears she had shed._

_Between sniffs, she let out a meek salutation in response to Tomoka._

" _My name is Tomoka Osakada! But, you can just call me Tomo. What's your's?" Tomoka squatted down in front of her._

_The little girl peeped up after burying her face in her knees._

" _S-Sakuno Ryuzaki…"_

" _Nice to meet you Sakuno! Where ya' from!?"_

" _To-Tokyo."_

_Well, that was sort of implied, seeing how this was a Tokyo province competition.  
"Wow, really? I live there too! So… Why are you here?"_

" _For.. For a competition."_

" _Well, what are you waiting for?! Shouldn't you be getting ready?"_

" _I- I…"_

" _You what?"  
"I'm too nervous."_

" _Well, I'm here for a competition, too! And I'm really nervous, too!"_

" _What? Really? You don't look like it." That caught Sakuno's attention._

" _Yup. I'm probably more nervous than you!"_

" _Liar," Sakuno said unbelievingly._

" _Hey! It's true!" Tomoka yelled back._

" _Well, why are you so happy?"_

" _Because, during a competition," Tomoka pointed to her head._

" _\- I block all of it out before it reaches here!" She poked Sakuno's forehead. Sakuno retracted out of nervousness._

" _H-Hey! Why'd you d-" Sakuno was cut off._

" _And you can't let it either," said Tomoka._

" _E-Eh?"_

" _Sakuno! There you are!" She heard a booming, elderly voice._

" _G-Grandma!?"_

" _What are you doing here! We have to get going soon! You're up after this one!" Sumire Ryuzaki helped her granddaughter up._

" _Well, hope I helped a bit, Sakuno-chan!" Her new friend beamed a large smile at her._

" _I'll see you around!" Tomoka started to walk away._

" _Uh, uh… Tomo?" First name basis. This friendship was a thing that was to last._

" _Uh-huh?" The outgoing girl turned around._

" _T-Thank you…" Sakuno let out a small smile._

_It was only a couple hours later that they announced the winners after a brief hiatus when all the competitors played._

_The judges started to speak into the microphone._

" _We had many competitors today and it was such a pleasure to listen to everyone that has competed in the Tokyo Provincial Kids' Music Competition,"_

_Another judge started talking._

" _But, as you know, while each one of you are winners, we can only give trophies out to three."  
Judge number three took over._

" _Without further ado, let us announce the winners! In third place , we have…_ " _  
Sakuno didn't listen. She was too busy looking away and closing her eyes and hoping for the best-case scenario where she wins a complimentary certificate._

" _In second place, we have Tomoka Osakada for her performance of J.C. Bach's Cello Concerto in C minor!"_

_Tomoka? Tomoka had won second place! Sakuno stopped moping and applauded for her friend as she watched her take the prize from the judge's hands and put on a big smile._

" _Now, this was a very hard decision for us. Many debates were had deciding who get to be number one… Ladies and gentlemen, last, but most certainly not least, we have,"_

_The air was so tense you could cut it with a knife._

" _Sakuno Ryuzaki for her performance of the Little Prelude in C minor by J.S. Bach!"_

" _Eh?"  
Sumire was beaming at the little girl._

" _Sakuno, my dear girl, you won first prize!"  
From her seat, she could hear Tomoka yelling while standing on the stage._

" _Woohoo! Go Sakuno-chan!"_

_And happily, she stepped up and accepted the prize while tears of joy were coming down from her face._

**_~0~0~0~0~0~0~_ **

Ever since then, she and Tomoka were inseparable. Tomoka was even there when Sakuno won the Seoul International Music Competition two years after the aforementioned happened. Tomoka never won against those magical fingers her friend had. It didn't bother too much however, because she was proud of her.

Sakuno and Tomoka were still walking around the school campus when Tomoka asked who the guy she was talking to.

"O-Oh! Don't. Don't worry about it." Sakuno blushed and looked away, trying to avoid the question.

Her friend looked at her with a mischievous grin.  
"Oooh? Why not?"

"It's… nothing."

"You know you're a really bad liar, right?"

"Oh, all right. I came to school early so I could get a feel for what the campus looked like so I wouldn't get lost. And I heard the sound of a violin."  
"Was he cute?"

She blushed again.  
"H-huh? I mean, I- I guess he was attractive…"

"Sakuno."  
"Y-yes!?"

"What. Did. He. Look. Like." Upon hearing the word 'attractive', she turned full 'typical, high school girl' mode.

"Well, uh… Oh…" Bright as a red tomato, she shrank down because of the embarrassment.

She started off by telling her about his cat-like, amber eyes and his dark-green hair. Continuing, she talked about his very skillful playing skills with the violin. And then his… attitude. Slowly, Tomoka's eyes grew interest.

"Dark-green hair, piercing, cat-like eyes, rude, and godlike at violin… That sounds like…"

"Me." A voice behind them startled them.

"Ah! It's you!" Sakuno turned around to see the same boy with the same with the same attitude.

"Saku-.. Saku-..." Sakuno didn't notice Tomoka's stutters, since she failed to recognize who he was.

"Yes, it's me. Fancy running into you again."

"I'm - I'm sorry for my outburst earlier. But why do you have to be so rude?"  
"Sakuno… He's Ryo-..." Tomoka was continuing to struggle getting words out to Sakuno.

"Rude? I don't think I'm rude."  
"Well, uh, you may t-think so, but…"  
"Sakuno!"

"Y-Yes?!" Sakuno flinched.

"Do you have any idea who you're saying that to?!"

"Who?"

"He's Ryoma Echizen, the genius! The prodigy! The Prince of Music!"

"Echizen? You mean the one who won the Prague Competition at nine years old?"

"Yes!" Tomoka took out her phone and did a quick image search and showed the first result to Sakuno.

She looked at the picture, turned to Ryoma, and turned back to the picture. Almost immediately, her face became brighter than an unadulterated apple and buried her face in her hands, flustering to regain composure. She couldn't believe that the most celebrated young musician in the States and probably in the world was being sassed by a small, weak girl. Apologizing profusely, she continued to bow repeatedly

"Oh, don't flatter me too much now." Ryoma had a small smirk. "If you ask me, Ryuzaki's pretty famous too."  
"Huh?" Sakuno looked up to Ryoma. She hadn't told him her name. How did he-?

"What do you mean?"  
"You won a pretty big competition yourself when we were the same age."

"Oh!" Tomoka clapped her hands together. "You won the Seoul International Music Competition!"

"Pretty big feat for a nine year old," nonchalantly, Ryoma told Sakuno.  
"How… How did you-" Sakuno was still blushing.

"Jeez, you blush at everything. I've listened to your version of Chopin's Waterfall multitudes of times."

Chopin's Waterfall… It was a relatively simple, yet beautiful piece. The piece focused mostly on scalar motion and major arpeggios. It was a shocker Sakuno won with that piece, due to its basic style;There were people playing ridiculously complex pieces like Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky, but Sakuno ended up winning. One could say her victory was something of a bit of controversy.

"Oh, um thank y-"  
He walked right past her and said, "Knees too relaxed, shoulder and elbows are too wobbly; posture is unconfident…," Ryoma paused.

"-and your hair is too long… You still have a ways to go."

Her face flushed.

"Hey, it's almost 8 o'clock. You should make your way to the front of the school for the orientation," he called back to the two girls.

7:55 A.M.

Which way was the front of school again?

**~0~0~0~0~0~0~**

"Tomoka, you're running too fast!" Gasping for air, the frail girl struggled to keep up with her rambunctious companion.

"If we're late, we'll get chewed out royal! And speakin' of royal," She looked up dreamily.

"-I wanna get one look at the prince before it's too late!"

The 'prince'? Really? Sakuno let out an exasperated sigh. She never suspected that the one person who could irk her so much would be an internationally famous violin prodigy.

Finally, after what felt like an hour of running, she finally reached the entrance of the school. By now, new freshmen were flooding through the gates in packs, each gender dressed in their respective uniforms. Boys wore black gakurans, which were black military like jackets, black trousers, and white shirts underneath. Girls' uniforms were made up of a dark blue checkered skirt, a lighter blue sailor jacket that was gold trimmed, a white blouse, and a red bow.

She checked to see if Echizen was around among these people.

"Ah! Sakuno look!"  
"What is it, Tomo?" She turned her head towards the direction of where her friend was pointing.

There he was, in all of his glory. His face was in its typical shape: a scowl, where his eyes were slanted and his eyebrows loose, but still pinched together. Tomoka proceeded to drag her towards to where Ryoma. Fortunately, they were cut short by the principal starting his opening speech, which meant students were to line up in rows and columns, boys and girls separated.

To Ryoma, all of this talk was a bunch of useless prattle for him. He started to doze off while standing up.

"Auditions to test your skill level and which group you are to be placed will happen one week from now after school. I hope all of you have practiced for your auditions throughout the break," the principal spoke into the microphone. This was the only thing Ryoma paid any attention to.

You see, the thing about this school was that it was a normal school with a little musical twist. It had all of your core classes like math, English, science, history, and literature. All students were required to take at least one class of music theory and be in a performing group.

It was _which_ performing group you were placed into. That was where you could see the division of skill. There were three groups a student could be placed into: the concert orchestra, the Sinfonia, and the Philharmonia.

All of them were full orchestras, which meant the band and strings were placed into one group.

The lowest level of this bunch was the concert orchestra. It was mostly comprised of intermediate skill level players. Most of the students in this orchestra were first years(freshmen) and second years(juniors).

The next was the Sinfonia. This orchestra has more adept players and have many rising talents of their own.

Then there was the Philharmonia. This orchestra only contained the best, the ten percent of the ten percent. The Philharmonia played the highest level of music. It only had veteran players who were the most skilled with their instrument. During concerts, the other two groups perform at a stage in school, which was still pretty grandiose. But when the Philharmonia was scheduled to perform, everybody in the district knew it was going to be an experience not easily forgotten anytime soon. They played in official concert halls such as the Mt. Rainer Hall in Shibuya and tickets to their concerts sold out like hot cakes.

The boy knew he was more than qualified for that level, but it was getting a high chair and place in it. He would actually have to try his best to get a respectable position.

Sakuno had a more modest thought. She'd be impressed with herself even if she made the Sinfonia. She didn't even know what she would play! Were there kids that actually practiced over the summer? Ugh, she didn't need this pressure. She needed a friend to talk to. Speaking of friend, where was Tomoka?

Oh, there she was, next to the 'genius'.

Reluctantly, she walked over to where her friend was. Ryoma looked quite… annoyed at Tomo's attempts at conversation.

When he saw Sakuno, he let out a little sigh of relief for some reason. He spoke to her first.

"Oh, hey good timing."  
"Did you need something?" innocently asked Sakuno.

He formed a small smirk on his face.

"Wanna be my accompanist for next week?"


	2. 2nd Movement: Le Trille du Diable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally on FFnet  
> "Before we begin, I would like to urge the audience that whenever I talk of a music piece in the story, take your time to listen to a portion of it, especially if you don't know the piece. That will make the story make so much more sense. Search the piece on Youtube, Google, or whatever! Please, for the sake of making sense, just relax and listen to a little bit whenever I talk about it.
> 
> Most of the time taken writing this story is research. Research of the era of music, the origins, the composition style, the composer, everything. I feel truthful information is the best type of the information and I want to give them the most I can from a story. So most likely, if a story is REALLY delayed (like this one), it's most likely because I haven't had the time to research yet.
> 
> Thank you so much and enjoy the long awaited chapter two!
> 
> Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis[テニスの王子様(Tenisu no Ōjisama)] is owned by Takeshi Konomi, Shueisha, Viz Media, Weekly Shōnen Jump, and TV Tokyo, for all characters, T.V. Shows, OVA's, movies, and anything dealing with the series. Only the written story (The Prince of Music) belongs to me."

"Oh, jeez…" Sakuno let out a long sigh.

Why did she say yes? It was just… a spur-of-the-moment thing. Accompanist? For what piece? He hadn't even given her any music yet. Speaking of music, what was she going to play for the audition? And it didn't help that Tomoka was squealing with excitement behind her.

"Wow! Sakuno, you're so lucky! Getting close with Prince Ryoma this early!"

"... I guess…" Sakuno looked down to hide her blush.

"Ha! You're not denying it!"

"Wha- What? T- Tomo!"

Well, in truth, she wasn't denying it. Although 'Prince' Ryoma(ugh, that made her cringe) completely lacked good social skills, there was something very charming about his very being. Was it his style of play? His aloofness? This would have to wait for another time; she had to get to homeroom, which coincidentally, was with Tomoya and… him.

Tomoka stepped in front of Sakuno and slid open the door. The muffled sound of conversations before they opened the door suddenly became a loud chatter. Students were already becoming familiar with each other. Girls were giggling about, guys were laughing, and Sakuno could already see some chemistry forming between certain boys and girls.

Ryoma was sitting at a desk right next to the window. His violin case stood diagonally, leaning on the side of it. He seemed annoyed due to a boy next to him attempting to make conversation.

"Hey-a! Anyone there?" He waved a hand in front of Ryoma.

"What," he slowly transferred his glare over to this boy, "-is it." Ice dripped from his voice.

"Whoa, man, just tryna' make a friend! The name's Horio! Horio Satoshi! French horn extraordinaire! I've had two years of experience!" He jabbed his thumb into his chest confidently and emphasized the 'two'.

"Only two years? It's a miracle you even made the audition requirements for this school," Ryoma scoffed.

"Um… thanks?" Horio put an unsure expression on. "Say, what's your name?"

Ryoma looked out the window again and calmly replied, "Ryoma Echizen."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Ryo-. Wait, what?"

"What is it?"

"You- Ryoma Echizen… You're Ryoma Echizen!?" His voice echoed through the already noisy classroom, causing it to go dead silent.  
Almost out of nowhere, all of the students had gathered around his desk.

' _Great...'_ he thought to himself, _'... the one thing I didn't want. Attention.'_

He was soon bombarded with questions and typical fan-statements. It was then that he realized he saw a small girl with long, brown hair trying to wheedle her way to his desk. She popped out like a cap on a soda bottle.

"U-uh, Ryoma!" All eyes were directed on her now.

"Hmm?" She caught his attention.

"Y-you…" her voice was a barely audible 'meeping', "You forgot to give me the accompaniment music."

Horio intervened, "Another prodigy?! What is this!? First Ryoma Echizen, now we have Sakuno Ryuzaki here too?!"

Sakuno regularly forgot who she was. She was a prodigy and was also a competitive musician. It flew over her head sometimes that she had won multitudes of competitions just like Ryoma has because of her resentment of performing. Also, she lead a quiet, normal outside of that living with her grandmother which also conflicted with her persona.

" Um… I'm came to talk to Ryoma…"

"What do you need?"

"You f-forgot to uh…" This wasn't good at all. All eyes were fixated on them and Sakuno wasn't good with people. She was clumsy and prone to dizzy spells especially under pressure like this.

Finally, with all the courage she could muster, she quickly blurted out, "Youforgottogivemetheaccompanimentmusic!"

"Oh, sorry."

He opened his backpack and pulled out a large folder full of music. It had tabs on the side that went from 'A' to 'Z'. Ryoma flipped to the 'T' section.

"Let's see.. Tartini, Tartini," he muttered. Oh, so that's what it was! Those tabs were for organizing his music alphabetically by composer!

"Found it." He handed a booklet of bound music to Sakuno.

"Tartini's Violin Sonata in G minor... The Devil's Trill Sonata..." Sakuno read the cover of the bound sheet music.

The Sonata in G Minor, or more commonly know as "The Devil's Trill Sonata", was a piece composed by Tartini. The story behind the piece is that one day, in a dream, the devil came into Tartini's room and materialized in front of him while he was sleeping. He asked Tartini if he could be his servant. But, the composer didn't want to waste time with amateurs, so he gave the ruler of Hell a violin. Tartini was taken aback when the he started to play with the most virtuosity he had ever seen. Shortly after waking up, he tried to remember and transcribe what he had heard in his dream as best as he could. The end result was the sonata that was in Sakuno's hands right of this moment.

"So, we're practicing after school right?"

Sakuno snapped out of her trance and looked up dumbly and replied, "Um... I guess?"

"Practice room number seven-" he paused for a moment.

"Don't be late."

"R-right..."

**~0~0~0~0~0~0~**

She was late. She was _very_ late. Almost a whole half hour.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

Where was she even going? Does the school even have practice rooms? Well, of course it did, it was a music school. But she doesn't even know the basic layout of the school! What was Ryoma thinking!? He already knew that Sakuno was bad with directions!

Turning corner after corner, she finally found the room with a sign next to it that stated 'PRACTICE ROOM 7' in big, blocky letters. She hurried in the room.

"I'm sorry Ryoma! I forgot that I don't know where anything is in this school!" she managed to say in between breaths.

She looked up to see two sets of confused eyes. He wasn't Ryoma; neither was the other one.

"Oi, Oishi? You know this first year?"

"Haven't got a single clue, Eiji."

"Hoi, hoi~ What's your name cute freshman?"

One had curly red locks of hair that spiraled upwards near the ends. His big eyes showed innocence and bounce. He held a b-flat clarinet. The other had hair that resembled somewhat of that of an egg and had two distinct cow tails that flowed down his face. His eyes showed concern and care, sort of like… a mother. He held a bassoon.

Sakuno managed to whimper out her name.

"Sakuno Ryuzaki, eh?" The egghead spoke first.

"Y-Yes. I'm supposed to be in practice room number seven…"

"Ha-ha! Silly freshman girl!" The redhead let out a hoot.

"Eiji, be nice!" Oishi scolded him.

"Sorry, sorry," he said between his snorts of laughter, "-but this is practice room nine!"

"What?" Dumbstruck, she could only blink in confusion.

"It's true."

She scurried outside to see the little plating next to the room. It was true. It was just that she was hurrying so much that she failed to recognize the little marking that covered up the dash that connected the little circle on the number nine. Who's bright idea was it to make every label in this school so damn blocky!?

"Oh, no…." Sakuno's voice sank like her heart.

"Don't worry, little freshman!" Eiji pointed down the hall. "Practice room number seven is about eight meters that way! Besides…"

"Huh?" Sakuno looked down the hall, only to see Ryoma giving an impatient glare straight through the poor girl.

"-he looks sorta' pissed!" the redhead laughed.

"Oh, R-Ryoma!"  
"What are you doing, just standing there?"

"I- I'm sorry!" She ran over into the room.

"Isn't it cute, Oishi? Little kids spending time with each other!"

Sakuno blushed. "Eh? U-um, this isn't what it looks like."

"Hurry and get set up." Ryoma had an intimidating snarl in his tone.

"Oishi, who's that little boy over there? He looks familiar."

"Eiji, how could you not know? Ryoma Echizen."

Ryoma resented the fact that everyone in the musical world knew him.

"What!? That Ochibi over there?!"  
Ochibi? Little kid? He was short, but he wasn't _that_ short.

"It's rude to stare so- Hey, where ya' goin?!"  
Eiji walked over to Ryoma, who was looking even more apathetic, if that was even possible.

"Hey, Eiji Kikumaru!" He introduced himself. "Last year's principal clarinet for the Philharmonia! My buddy back there is named Oishi Shuichiro! He was last year's first chair bassoon for the Philorch!"

"Philorch?" Ryoma raised an eyebrow.  
"Well, saying 'Philharmonia' all the time is a mouthful. So we just call it the Philorch!"

"Interesting."

He wasn't even listening. He took Sakuno's wrist and dragged her inside. Ryoma was done wasting time.

"Hey, Ochibi, where ya' goin'-"

The violinist shut the door on Eiji's face.

"Pretty rude, ain't he?"  
"It's only 'cause you pestered him so much."  
" You're no fun, Oishi…"

Inside the practice room was a completely different atmosphere. Ryoma didn't let up on that piercing, accusing glare he was giving Sakuno, even when he unpacking his instrument.

"Aren't you going to at least set up your sheet music?"

"Oh, right!" As she took them out of her backpack, she slipped and pages went flying everywhere. Letting out a deep, exasperated sigh, Ryoma bent down and helped pick up the music that was now all over the floor. Sakuno began to help as well, but was stumped after she noticed…

"Ryoma, this music doesn't have any page numbers…"

"Why would I need page numbers when it's already easy to memorise?"

"How long have you been practicing this?"

"About a week? I think."

Easy to memorise? This particular sonata was several movements long! He couldn't possibly just _remember_ thirteen pages in a week.

"If you need them, you can add them yourself. Here are pages one and two."

"Geez…"

"The accompaniment is really easy. You'll be able to sight read easily." Ryoma began putting his instrument up to his chin.

Sakuno was still trying to find which page was which.  
"Um… this is page five… or is it six?"

Ryoma began to pick up the music with her. Two people were always faster than one, right?

They were almost done, just one page left.

Sakuno went to pick it up when a hand touched hers over it. Ryoma's hand. She retracted.

"S- Sorry, Ryoma!"

Completely oblivious as to what just happened, he just gave her a questioning stare.

"You apologize too much."

"U-Um, I'm sor-"  
"Stop."

"Okay…"

"Anyways, let's take it from the top. On a count of twelve. Ready?"

Tapping his foot, Sakuno counted with him and began to play.

Music began to fill the room and started to bounce off the walls. For an accompaniment, it wasn't anything Sakuno couldn't handle, but was surprisingly more in-depth than some normal figured bass stuff. The musicians were different from their normal selves while playing. Completely apart from the outside world, they let their ears do all the work.

He stopped.

With his abrupt stop came Sakuno's as well.

"Um… Is something wrong?"

He simply nodded.

"Where?" Sakuno pondered.  
"All of it?"  
"... Huh?"

"Your style of play is too… Happy."

"I don't get it…"

"We're not playing Mozart or Chopin. Your style of play for this piece can't be flighty and bouncy. This was by Tartini and played by the Devil himself. More melancholy, okay? Take it from the top. I don't think you have to practice much from how you're following along."

They started again. And once again, they were in their trance state. Sakuno tried her best to be more dramatic and depressed in her playing. Her hands and expression were much more solemn and somber. The keys just seemed to flow, note by note, beat by beat. The two filled the hall with their music. Masterful technicality was met by splendid musicality and one could say that this could have been close to perfection.

The two of them hit the last chord, perfectly together, with the same musicality that they had whilst performing.

They heard claps from the doorway. It was the two third years from two practice rooms down.

"Whoo! Bravo!"

"It's _bravi,_ Eiji."

"Ehh, who cares about that stuff!? Anyways, you guys really are prodigies! That was great! You know I-,"

Ryoma slammed the door in front of them.

The pair had literally been kicked out of the room by the Ochibi.

"Interesting kid, huh?"

"Eiji, one day, your mouth will get you into a lot of trouble..."

"You mean it hasn't already?" He laughed when they walked away from the room.

"Doesn't he remind you of the captain?"

"We're not a sports team, Eiji. Stick with concertmaster. Calling Tezuka 'captain' is just weird..."

Back in the room, Ryoma lightly pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"I think we've had more than enough distractions today…"

"Ryoma, before we leave, can we run through it one more time? I want to try something."

"Again? You did fine before."  
Sakuno beamed and said, "Ready to start whenever you are!"

Ryoma let out a final sigh and raised his instrument.

Sakuno relaxed and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Ryoma was in shock, to put it simply. She didn't have that childish expression on her face anymore. She had a serious face, almost a scowl.

She looked like him.

Her movements, her technique, her everything. Whenever Ryoma looked over, he was reminded of himself. She could change her technique at will. She could throw away her entire being and just change herself. She could change herself to the music. She wasn't playing the music, the music was playing her.

Sakuno was finally showing him the true genius inside of her. Even if she was just playing an accompaniment part, Ryoma threw away any first impression of her being a ditzy, clumsy girl and now knew why she was who she was.  
Sakuno embraced this feeling. She knew if she were to play anything after this, she would play with the same seriousness and intensity. She searched her head for a piece. Anything that could match this feeling she had. All while playing, she searched her head. While the notes were flowing from the piano and violin, she was thinking.

She needed something unorthodox for her to set this mood in stone.

The Devil's Sonata came to a close and Ryoma just stood there. Sakuno relaxed.

After a long silence he told her, "Chopin."

Curiously, she looked at him.

"You're wondering what to play for auditions, right?"

"How'd you know?"  
"Call it a guess. You didn't know what you wanted to play before. Knowing how indecisive you are, it's pretty accurate to think you don't know now."

"Well…"

"Chopin. Chopin's Revolutionary Étude." Ryoma said while loosening his bow.

Chopin's twelfth étude from opus number ten, also known as the Revolutionary Étude, was inspired by the November Uprising in 1831 when Poland launched a failed revolution against Russia. Chopin poured his emotions on the matter into many pieces that he composed at that time, the "Revolutionary Étude" standing out as the most notable example.

"But that's pretty difficult to master in a week..." Feeling defeated, she put her head down.

"Ryuzaki,"  
That was the first time he started a sentence instead of her.

"You underestimate yourself."

He leaned in closer and said, "Stop it."

She felt light-headed with him so close to her face. Never has she been in such a situation before. She could _feel_ her face getting red. She could _see_ her body getting hot. She didn't even know what to say anymore. The only thing that escaped, or rather, the only the thing that she could say and show was a small nod and an even tinier 'O.K.'

Ryoma checked the clock on the wall. The digital clock flashed six twenty-two P.M.

"We should get going. We've been here for too long. I'll see you later. Good luck for next week."

The door opened and shut and Ryoma made his exit. Sakuno just sat there, speechless. She sat down in front of the piano and let the notes flow from her fingertips.

It seemed as if Sakuno had a real affinity for Chopin because everything seemed to be by him whenever she played.

She was playing the Nocturne in E-flat major. Chopin's Nocturne opus nine, number 2. The ever so classic piece was the thing to help her relax.

She made her way down the stairs and out the door only to find it to be dark. The sun was barely shining over the horizon and was setting quickly. That's when she saw him, Ryoma, perched by the gate with his violin case leaned next to him.

He took a glance over and she said to him, "Ryoma? Why are you still here?"

"I'm not about to let you walk home in the dark." He let out a grunt while getting up.

He gestured her to come. Sakuno followed obediently.

"You still have a ways to go..." muttered Ryoma.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go home."

Sakuno still had this bubbly feeling about him. Sort of like a flower ready to burst and bloom. It was too early to tell now, but she hid it and kept that feeling safe because she knew something for certain.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go," he called.

"I'm coming!" replied Sakuno.

He may have been playing a piece about the devil, but she knew for sure that he wasn't one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally of FFnet  
> "I really am sorry for the long wait. It's just that school is still in session and I have to focus on that first. But! Spring break is next week, so I'll have more free time to write then! Also, I apologize for this chapter being so short (5000 words(Ch.1) compared to 3000 (Ch.2))
> 
> I've decided that every chapter will be known as a movement, like a classical piece, and I will always have a musical reference on it. And, for the audience's sake, I will always describe those titles.
> 
> This chapter's title, Le Trille du Diable, is French for The Devil's Trill. Pretty fitting seeing that this chapter seems to revolve around Tartini's piece. Tartini himself was an Italian baroque-era composer. He was born in Slovenia, but lived the majority of his life in Italy.
> 
> The title is in French because that's how he normally titled the piece, because he was traveling France when he had the dream.
> 
> Thanks and don't forget to review for me! Look forward to chapter 3!"

**Author's Note:**

> Now, on FFnet, the ending notes for this story is reserved for explanation of the music used in this chapter and just for general end of the chapter A/Ns. 
> 
> Some A/Ns for the end. Expected for a first chapter. I usually don't have lots of A/N's other than the first chapter. Don't expect this much text after every chapter.
> 
> First off, thanks for reading. This chapter's title should obvious enough: exposition, meaning beginning.
> 
> RyoSaku is my favorite of OTP of all time. I guess this chapter title could imply that Ryoma and Sakuno's song(piece) is now just starting and we don't know when it will end.
> 
> Before I end this, I want to get this out.
> 
> A fellow writer once said to me, "Good fanfics gloss over cultural aspects. Great fanfics dive into and explore the culture they're writing for." With that said, there are two things I abhor in fics: romanizations and honorifics. I absolutely refuse to use words like 'arigato' and 'nani' when there are perfectly fine English counterparts to words like those. I will also try my best to refrain from honorifics like '-kun', '-sama', and etc. because I hate them and it completely takes the seriousness out of a fic for me. The same applies to the former about romanization. There may be the occasional 'senpai' but names will not be attached to them(Ex. There will be none of 'namehere-senpai' or stuff like that). Instead, I will make clear which senpai the character is talking to and then add senpai as a singular word.
> 
> Well, now I have to continue this because of all of the work my friends put in this.  
> I am a very erratic updater, but I will, without a doubt, continue this.
> 
> I'm planning on updating once every week until chapter 5. From then on, Ao3 and FFnet will be updated simultaneously. 
> 
> If you would be so kind as to leave a review or something, it would motivate me to work faster and harder on future chapters! Thank so much!


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